London 2012 to promote local tech talent

The project to deliver the technology behind the London 2012 Olympics will try to develop new talent from the region as part of the regeneration theme of the Games.

The Olympic Games IT is delivered by the official technology supplier Atos Origin with a team of around 3,500 people - 80 per cent of whom are volunteers.

Because it is a high-risk environment, the Olympics IT volunteers are usually people with a lot of experience in the industry - Microsoft's Bill Gates even volunteered for one day at the Salt Lake City games - but there is a strategy to help promote and develop new local talent for London 2012.

Speaking at the silicon.com CIO Forum in London today, Rob Price, Atos Origin account manager for London 2012, said: "You tend to bring in the people with 20 years' experience on helpdesk but in London the theme is regeneration and so training people to give them an opportunity in this space will be part of that."

Work has already started early on the IT project for the London 2012 Olympic Games even before the 2008 Beijing Olympics is out of the way.

Price said: "The project takes four years. We will ramp up from 10 to 20 people to the full 3,500."

There are typically around three applications for every volunteer role across each Olympic Games - not just in IT - and Price said it is a dynamic but stressful environment to work in.

He said: "The behavioural mindset in that team is fundamental. The Olympics is a complex environment - difficult, stressful. It has to work."

The Olympic IT volunteer roles range from low-skilled tasks, such as printing off event results to be signed off by officials, to mission-critical helpdesk support.

Price said Atos Origin also uses the Olympic Games to help recruit and develop talent internally, with around 70 roles on the Olympics project open to staff to work on for six months.

He said: "It's a great experience to take away and bring back to their roles - the experience and understanding of what goes on in the Olympic Games environment."